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By Gordon Edwards
There are many exaggerated claims made by promoters of thorium-based nuclear
reactor technology as an alternative to the present generation of uraniumbased reactors.
One of those claims is that the use of thorium "fuel" instead of uranium fuel eliminates
the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation because "thorium-fueled reactors" do not
produce plutonium as a byproduct.
This claim is profoundly misleading.
Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive element, but it is not a nuclear fuel, nor is it
a nuclear explosive. The phrase "thorium fuel" is a misnomer. Thorium is not a fuel.
However, when thorium is bombarded with neutrons, it is transmuted into a type of
uranium that does not exist in nature: uranium-233. This manufactured material,
U-233, can subsequently be used as a nuclear fuel or as a nuclear explosive.
Oliver Tickells article - The Promise and Peril of Thorium is highly recommended. It
provides a good discussion of the weapons proliferation risks associated with thoriumbased nuclear reactor technologies.
To better grasp the proliferation risk, some background on nuclear explosives is helpful.
Background on Nuclear Weapons:
All existing nuclear weapons use either uranium or plutonium as the primary nuclear
explosive material. All nuclear fuels (fuels for nuclear reactors) are also based on either
uranium or plutonium.
The story begins with naturally occurring uranium....
A. Uranium-235 -- Uranium Enrichment
Uranium is the only naturally occurring material that can be utilized as a nuclear
explosive.
However, not all kinds of uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons. One cannot
use natural uranium (the stuff that is mined), or low-enriched uranium (the stuff that is
used as fuel in most commercial power reactors around the world) as a nuclear
explosive. The problem with these materials is that there is too much uranium-238
(which is NOT a nuclear explosive) and too little uranium-235 (which IS a nuclear
explosive).
It turns out that plutonium is a more powerful nuclear explosive than HEU. Plutonium
is in fact more powerful than weapons-grade uranium.
Obtaining plutonium involves a chemical extraction process that requires dissolving
highly radioactive "used nuclear fuel" in boiling nitric acid -- not an easy task! This
makes it difficult to divert the plutonium from civilian nuclear reactors into bombs, unless
the plutonium has already been extracted ahead of time.
Once the plutonium has been separated from the rest of the radioactive garbage, it can
be packaged and transported without detection fairly easily.
Using plutonium as a nuclear explosive does require a more elaborate bomb
mechanism than the "gun-type" uranium bomb design. A sophisticated "implosion
mechanism" is needed. That requires the simultaneous detonation of shaped charges
(conventional explosives) surrounding a perfectly spherical ball of plutonium.